
More than 30 killed in sectarian clashes in Syria's Sweida, interior ministry says
The violence erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida, witnesses said.
This is the first time sectarian fighting has erupted inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
Last April saw clashes between Sunni fighters and armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, which later spread to another district near the provincial capital.
"This cycle of violence has exploded in a terrifyng way and if it doesn't end we are heading toward to a bloodbath," said Rayan Marouf, a Druze researcher based in Sweida who runs the Suwayda24 website.
The clashes involving Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze militias were centered in Maqwas neighborhood east of Sweida, which is inhabited by Bedouin tribes, and was encircled by armed Druze groups and later seized.
The Syrian ministry of interior said that its forces will begin direct intervention in Sweida to resolve the conflict, calling on local parties in the Druze city to cooperate with the security forces.
Armed Bedouin tribesmen also launched attacks on Druze villages on the western and north outskirts of the city, residents said.
A medical source told Reuters that at least 15 bodies had been taken to the morgue at Sweida's state hospital. Around 50 people were injured, with some transported to Deraa city for medical care.
The violence marked the latest episode of sectarian bloodshed in Syria, where fears among minority groups have surged since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
Those concerns intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
It was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended last December with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Revealed: Debate opponent of Mehdi Hasan organized violent far-right protests
A debating opponent of the leftwing media figure Mehdi Hasan in a controversial viral YouTube video was previously the organizer of two violent far-right protests in Berkeley, California, in 2017, the Guardian can reveal. The video debate session with Hasan, published to the 10 million-subscriber Jubilee channel, has already attracted scrutiny due to platforming a self-described 'fascist', Connor Estelle, who reportedly lost his job after he was identified by online researchers. Unidentified until now was another of Hasan's opponents in the debate video, Richard Black. In conversation with Hasan, Black refused to condemn violence against police officers, claimed that the Los Angeles police department was directed by 'liberal Marxists' and described his own political position as being 'white nativist', adding that 'neocons, libertarians, all those mainstream people, [they] might as well be leftists to me'. In March and April 2017, meanwhile, Black organized counter-protests – later referred to as the first and second 'battles of Berkeley' by the US far right – that pitted members of the Proud Boys and the Rise Above Movement against protesters who opposed a campus speech by the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Those rallies helped herald an era of 'alt-right' street violence that culminated in incidents such as the Charlottesville riot in 2017 and the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol. The Jubilee debate has gone viral, with many viewers praising Hasan's expert dismantling of his opponents' far-right views, and others criticizing Jubilee's platforming of far-right extremist opponents. Devin Burghart, president and executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and an expert on extremist movements, offered 'three possible explanations' for Jubilee's decision to include far-right voices on the panel. Burghart said: 'Either Jubilee producers were unbelievably negligent in the vetting of debaters, or they chose to stack the room with racists and fascists against a lone person of color in the hopes of capturing a viral moment to increase channel engagement … [or] they were trying to surreptitiously sound an alarm that many young Republicans are being drawn to fascism by having Mehdi systematically expose them during the debate.' He added: 'None of those explanations speaks well of the company or the format, and highlights the peril of sharing a platform with disingenuous far-rightists seeking eyeballs.' The video recording Hasan appeared in was an episode of Surrounded, a series published by Jubilee, a YouTube-only channel run by Jubilee Media. The program's format sees one prominent individual with well-known beliefs debate against a room of people with opposing views, with the lone person making claims and the group taking turns challenging them individually, for up to 20 minutes per claim. The opposing group can vote out individual debaters by raising red flags when they feel that person is not representing their position well. Black first appeared as a sole opponent to oppose Hasan's claim that 'Donald Trump is pro-crime'. He began by asking Hasan, a British American of Indian ancestry: 'What's your ethnic background, if you don't mind me asking?' Then, referring back to an example Hasan had used with a previous debater of Trump pardoning January 6 protesters, Black said: 'I am happy that he released J6. In fact, so much so that I was prepared to protest if he didn't.' When Hasan then asked if that meant he was OK with Trump being pro-crime, Black replied: 'Sure, because you know what? We're changing the definition of what crime is.' When Hasan asked, 'You don't think stomping on police officers' heads is a crime?', Black said: 'It's no longer a relevant conversation any more.' He added: 'Have you seen the US in the last four or five years, BLM protests? I myself have been involved in these protests.' Black then claimed: 'I've seen egregious things, things that you couldn't even imagine being done to conservatives.' He concluded: 'It's not about that. It's about tribal warfare. That's where we're at in the US.' Jubilee provided links to social media accounts associated with each of Hasan's interlocutors. In Black's case, they linked to an Instagram account which, although bare bones, did feature the name 'Richie Black'. The account indicated that he is located in Costa Mesa, California, and featured a headshot of Black and another man along with text and a link to another Instagram account belonging to Safari Journal Co. That account in turn linked to a Safari Journal Co website, whose about page says: 'We mentor young Men and Women to elevate their understanding and grounding of the Nationalist Doctrine, Post-Industrial Revolution, the Mythic State, Cultural Homogeneity, American History and Health.' The Guardian compared videos and images of Black from Instagram and his Jubilee appearance to news photography of the organizer of the 2017 protests in Berkeley, named as Rich Black in contemporary reports. The photos, eight years apart, appeared to depict the same person. Black was reportedly the organizer of rallies in Berkeley's downtown to defend free speech in March and April 2017, which set a pattern of violent far-right protests in liberal cities, a pattern that would be repeated in subsequent years in Portland, Oregon; Charlottesville, Virginia; and Washington DC. A 4 March 2017 rally, billed as 'March 4 Trump', was a response to a planned protest against a campus speech by the rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, then an alt-right darling but who would soon fall from grace after appearing to relativize pedophilia in a podcast appearance. Archived posts from Black's now-defunct Twitter/X account show him promoting the March event, and whipping up alt-right supporters with images of the event in progress. Clashes there resulted in seven injuries and 10 arrests. The event saw Kyle Chapman, hitherto known as 'Based Stickman', become a Maga celebrity after he assaulted counter-protesters with a wooden signpost while dressed in makeshift riot gear. That rally also attracted members of the Rise Above Movement, a southern California white supremacist group that was reported as having 'a singular purpose: physically attacking its ideological foes'. Following the March rally, Black, described at the time by Time magazine in its reporting at that time as a 'libertarian grant writer from the Los Angeles area' who decided to organize a 'comeback' event in Berkeley where 'rightwingers could 'come and speak, from start to finish, without being physically shut down''. The April event was even more violent, with opposing groups at first clashing in Berkeley's civic center park but then spreading into surrounding streets, and fighting with 'wooden poles, pepper spray, mace, explosives, bagels, milk, and fists'. The following Monday, on a since-deleted Twitter/X account, Black reportedly posted a video of himself in which he said, 'I could not be more satisfied with the outcome of the event', claiming that attenders including those on the far-right had taken a 'stand against radicalism and domestic terrorism'. The events also saw members of the neo-Nazi Rise Above Movement (RAM) charged over their alleged premeditated violence at both protests. A labyrinthine prosecution finally concluded last December when the one-time fugitive and RAM founder Rob Rundo was sentenced to two years of time served and two years of supervised release. Jubilee has 10 million subscribers at the time of writing, and has had some 2.8bn views across its videos, according to the analytics platform Social Blade. This puts it just inside the top 400 channels by subscribers and 6,120th by views. The channel was founded in 2010, over which time it has issued about 1,430 videos. But it enjoyed growth spurts and renewed media coverage during the last US election season, when episodes of Surrounded featuring mainstream political figures such as the senior Democrat Pete Buttigieg. In the context of this renewed interest, the CEO and founder, Jason Y Lee, told Variety that the platform aimed to 'provoke understanding and create human connection', to show 'what discourse can and should look like', and to be 'the Disney of empathy'. The Guardian contacted Lee for comment on this reporting, but received no response. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. In a January YouTube interview, the journalist Taylor Lorenz asked Lee if he was 'worried about getting played by the far right', given 'their ability to weaponize the attention economy and move the Overton window further to the right' by being platformed on Jubilee. Lee said 'we actually do rounds of interviews' with potential panelists, and 'we'll talk to them about their ideology, their points of view and perspectives'. Lee added: 'We don't want to favor one side or the other, but we are very careful in trying to make sure that we're not spreaders of misinformation or ideologies that might be hateful or bad.' Meanwhile, it is not clear what Black has been doing between his initial burst of prominence and his Jubilee appearance. Burghart, the extremism expert, said: 'It's not uncommon to see a figure engaged in street-level activism drop off the radar for a time and appear later in more mainstream settings.' He added: 'It's a good reminder that monitoring the far-right needs to be a long-term project, keeping an eye on both the margins and the mainstream.'


BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Trump calls on Thailand and Cambodia to cease fire and talk trade
Donald Trump said on Saturday he had held talks with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand, as the two countries sought an "immediate ceasefire" following border the beginning of a private visit to his Scottish golf courses, the US president wrote on Truth Social that both nations "have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE!".He added that he looked forward to resuming trade talks with Cambodia and Thailand though it wasn't appropriate to hold such discussions until the "fighting STOPS".At least 33 soldiers and civilians have been killed while thousands of Thai and Cambodian nationals have been displaced since fighting broke out on 24 July. Trump's intervention emerged a week before US tariffs on Cambodia and Thailand are due to come into force. From 1 August, businesses in the US shipping in goods from Thailand or Cambodia will have to pay a 36% tax unless an agreement can be reached before then. Earlier on Saturday, Cambodia had already called for "immediate" ceasefire with Sangiampongsa, Thailand's foreign minister, said its neighbour needed to show "genuine sincerity in ending the conflict" for talks to teeing off at his luxury resort Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire, the US president said that he had spoken to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's acting Prime Minister, Phumtham Wechayachai."When all is done, and peace is at hand, I look forward to concluding our Trading Agreements with both!" Trump wrote.


Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Horrifying moment football hooligans blast their rivals with fireworks and attack each other with sticks
Violent clashes broke out during a football match in Ireland after a group of yobs began blasting rival fans with fireworks and attacking them with sticks. The streets of Derry descended into chaos on Friday when two large groups of supporters began attacking each other outside the Brandywell stadium as Derry City faced off against Dublin side Bohemians. A teenage boy and a man, aged in his 20s, sustained injuries as a result of the incident, which took place on the Lecky Road and Lone Moor Road areas, and were taken to hospital for treatment. Horrifying footage showed dozens of masked men wielding sticks, bats and iron bars facing off in front of shocked locals and fellow football fans. In one terrifying video, a gang of yobs can be seen blasting fireworks directly towards a rival group on the other side of a metal fence in scenes that resembled those out of a video game. Others appeared to be holding golf clubs and launching projectiles towards the men as they fled to safety to escape the burning embers and thick clouds of smoke. As the violence ensued, one young girl could be heard getting increasingly distressed as she cries out to her father: 'Daddy, please, daddy!' 'You're alright, you're alright,' he says, desperately trying to reassure her, before telling two men on the opposite side of the fence to 'calm down' as they look for objects to throw back in retaliation. Huge red and green sparks can be seen flying into the air as the yobs fired the projectiles towards their rivals on the other side of the fence A second video shows several young men facing off in a residential area, with some trading punches while others launched sticks and various other projectiles towards their rivals. In a third clip, dozens of yobs can be seen charging towards a smaller group of lads in front of horrified locals - as several sirens can be heard wailing in the background. Police said the disorder, which they believe was pre-arranged, took place in the Lecky Road and Lone Moor Road areas shortly after 7pm. Further clashes then occurred in the vicinity of the Brandywell stadium during and after the football match, which kicked off 7:45pm. Officers in attendance said they worked along with stadium staff to bring the disorder under control. No arrests have been made at this time. Superintendent William Calderwood said: 'We believe that the disorder we witnessed on Friday evening was pre-arranged and we will be reviewing all available footage to identify those involved. 'I would ask anyone with information or footage which could assist us with our inquiries to contact officers at Strand Road on 101.' A report can be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via or people can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A local Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) who was at the game said he was left frightened by what he had witnessed. 'In terms of scale and the level of violence and danger to those in the vicinity, we haven't seen anything like this and I hope we never do again,' SDLP MLA Mark Durkan told the Belfast Telegraph. 'It was genuinely scary. I don't scare easily but we did turn on our heels and go in the opposite direction. 'People were genuinely frightened and that shouldn't be the case, especially when they go to a football match.' The Irish Premier league match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, was also briefly suspended after a flare was thrown onto the pitch from outside the ground.